25th ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF THE WORLD'S FIRST IVF BABY

EDM number 1572 in 2002-03, proposed by Paul Marsden on 10/07/2003.

That this House notes the 25th anniversary of the birth of the world's first IVF baby, born in the UK, to be celebrated on 25th July; acknowledges the significance of the achievements of Robert Edwards and the late Patrick Steptoe and the encouragement this gave to others to further develop, and continue to develop, a range of technologies that have subsequently helped millions of women worldwide, and their partners, overcome fertility problems and successfully give birth to a child; acknowledges that infertility affects one in seven couples in the UK and the considerable psychological distress this can cause; and looks forward to the publication later this year by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence of an evidence-based clinical guideline on infertility, that will hopefully end the unacceptably wide variation in access to, and availability of, NHS treatment faced by couples across the country.

This motion has been signed by a total of 28 MPs.